Treasure Chest of Thoughts

Updated my book review blog (Mrs. Gillmore’s Book Reviews) this evening…still behind on some commentaries.  Right now, I would rather read novels than write about them!  Uhhmm, is there a lesson here for me, the teacher, who requires her students to write reviews of novels as they read their “required” six reads per nine weeks?  Yes, probably a blog post about that will follow…need to “read” a little research, though, gather some data before I can “write” about it.

My latest read and review is novel number 25 Eclipse.

Now, on to novel number 26…yes, New Moon!

Received my copy of Digital Directions in the mail yesterday and, as always, found several articles of immediate interest.   As I begin preparations for my 1:1 classroom, I appreciated the tip list on page 27.  Now this list actually goes with an article entitled “Characteristics of ‘Highly Qualified’ Online Teachers” by Katie Ash.  While my classroom will not be a “virtual” classroom, much of it will be online.

Tip 1:  Don’t wait for students to come to you with questions.

• My goal?  To have them questioning each other via my “old” tech tools (blogs and wikis) and the new ones I am discovering and learning this summer, including Etherpad, Webspiration, Penzu…and maybe Protopage.
• My goal?  To keep them busy learning and, yes, questioning.  Honestly?  We maybe questioning each other.  I have found that I daily learn from them also…shhhhh, sometimes I acknowledge it and pat them on the back; sometimes, though, I just go, “Good job!” and absorb and use the information!

Tip 2:  Be open to trying new technology tools.

• This one I partially addressed in Tip 1.  Summer is my salvation here, for during summer, I have the time to learn, to grow professionally, to self-teach, to share with peers (digitally, online…very cool!).
• CAUTION:  One has to be careful with Web 2.0, for there is just so much of it out there!  I spend the first part of the summer learning…then I stop and decide which ones work best for my learning and teaching style, and I begin to attempt to master my chosen tech tools.  Yes, this will be another post later!

Tip 3:  Experience online from a learner’s perspective by taking a virtual class.

• Several of my master’s level courses were online, and I very much enjoyed that experience.  I could work at my own pace and as my schedule allowed.
• The most recent way I experienced this was last week during which I spent five days with six peers as we worked on our new mini computers, learning and sharing:  yes, online.  A most valuable time.  So intense, but a week I would gladly plan for again.

Tip 4:  Promote responsible online behavior.

• Please consider this statement by Will Richardson in Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (pg viii):  I can tell you from personal experience and from collecting anecdotal data from many other teachers, students don’t usually abuse the tools.
• This I, too, have found true.  One, I model this responsible behavior.  Two, I expect this behavior.  Three, my student appreciate this freedom to use technology.
• Ultimately, I take this responsibility on as a mother.  I simply want to protect my students, who are my kids, my children.  You know?

Tip 5:  Encourage an active online classroom community.

• My online classroom community will be student-to-student within our classroom (as we did last year).  Now, I am making contacts to increase our community with other classrooms within our district, our coop, our state, our nation, and, yes, even our plant.  That’s right…more blog posts about this within the next year!

Tip 6:  Learn to manage your online time well.

• This is a concern I hear voiced by many teachers.  My answer at this point?  Plan, plan, plan…and then plan some more.  Again, summer is the answer for me. 
• I hope that with the use of 1:1 computers this year and with students collaborating and submitting digitally that one result will be that I, the teacher, will have more time to plan.  This is what my ultimate concern is…that I will not have adequately prepared for each class, resulting in online time not being spent well.
• Efficacy.  Teacher ownership.  Teacher responsibility to her students. 

My favorite tip?  Tip 2.  Please try it out!

Have now had a little down time since our five days spent colloborating with the teachers in Fort Smith and getting to better-know my five peers who will also share the experience of 1:1 computers this fall at Batesville High School. Took a little break from technology to…

1. Slept for about ten hours. We spent some intense, long, exciting days “playing” with technology.
2. Finished James Patterson’s Sail, the novel that helped me get through a major storm on Friday!
3. Read James Patterson’s Judge & Jury while re-acquainting myself with my comfy recliner.
4. Bought okra plants and a pool at Wal-Mart…shhh, the kids think the pool is just for them!
5. Took a nap.
6. Helped plant those okra plants. Now know I did not purchase enough. Have to have two complete rows! (By the way, girls, remember that bean-picking party I mentioned?!)
7. Am now using technology again…have recovered from my “maxed out” level.

While Twittering…or Tweeting as I have also heard it called…I came across a link posted by Bud the Teacher to Webspiration: a tool I will now weave into my lesson plans for the fall, a great tool for prewriting/planning papers and projects. Have I mentioned how much I like it?!

Okay…enough technology for a few hours…now have to help David Baldacci solve some sort of crime in The Whole Truth. By the way, I just noted Baldacci’s interest and support of “literacy efforts across America.”

1. Wish You Well Foundation
2. Feeding Mind and Soul: maybe a project for Beta Club or English National Honors Society?

Ah, another reason to support the reading of David Baldacci!

Also posted at Cafe Gillmore.

Today was another full day of technological professional growth!

1. Shopped for Cafe Classroom Redesign.
2. Spent seven+ hours plotting and planning (using our mini’s!) for the first week of school.
3. Currently we are riding out a storm…there just has to be a metaphor involved here somewhere!…of course, four of the six of us are still using our mini’s!

Two points worth discussng here from today’s work-a-thon:

• Select what tools work for you and then truly use them.  Today, some of us (storm update:  just lost electricity…mini’s are fully charged.  Is very still and green outside…no, not a good sign.)….Today, some of us created Protopages, while others worked on wikis.  Really glad that I still have two months to plan and prepare.  Really glad.
• Pre-planning is the key in creating a successful 1:1 program.  Again, let me reiterate…really glad that I have two months to plan and prepare. 

A thought from today that I need to share with my peers:  I would really like for us to get together throughout the summer and share and discuss what progress we have made since our last bonding time, which is exactly what this has become.  A point made early by Lisa Huff:  next summer when we are hosting such an event for the round of mini users, time away from school, from home really does allow for time to bond, or what I l like to refer to as professional development and growth.

Update #2:  Just had a discussion with the other teachers, and we all agreed:  we do not want to wait six weeks to get together.  Checking our calendars so we can showcase what we have created and learned every two-to-three weeks or so.

Update #3:  Storm is over, and as so often happens, the temperature has dropped, and life is wonderfully cool…both literally and figuratively!

Tech Tools we used today:

• Flickr
• Protopage ~ Sticky Note feature
• Voki
• Mini Computer built-in camera
• Voice Thread
• Continued work on wikis and blogs

Promise…I will comment on these more!  As of now, we have put in a 13-hour day.  Shhhh…time for some R and R…with no technology involved!

Throughout our second day of learning how to utilize the mini computers within our classrooms, my peers and I spent a day working and learning more about each other.  Maybe it should be a requirement for co-workers to spend successive days together…working and talking and working and chatting.  Fun!

I did fail to mention a techie tool that we used yesterday:  MonkeySurvey.  How did we utilize this tool?  Well, we did create a survey for our students, but, some time…just a little bit…was spent creating surveys that often created snickers at inopportune times (yes, I know this sentence is in passive voice…intentionally so.  Passive voice saves me from having to name names!)

Today, the presenters spent time assisting the teachers create wiki pages…a tool that we from Batesville began using last year (Mrs. G Info and The Think Tank…I love wikis!).  Thus, much of today was spent working…for the most part very quietly…on techie tools we each wanted to perfect, as the presenters also shared ways they had implemented the minis and all the techie tools mentioned here and in yesterday’s post.  My favorite?  The Lucky Ducks.  Ms. Anna purchased each of her students a rubber ducky, which each student adopted wrote about in various assignments.  Cool idea…now how can I implement this within my classes this fall?

One idea we gleaned from today?  Next year when we host this meeting for the “newbies” in our district, we want to host sessions for the various learning levels.  Leader Lisa Huff is taking notes…already planning for what we can implement to ensure the success of our teachers and our Classroom Redesign within our district.  Today, it became even more obvious the multiple levels of technological knowledge within the room; to have been able to break out into sessions….that would have been advantageous. 

Tomorrow, we do not meet as a group, so we will spend time preparing for the first day back to school. That’s right:  Welcome back to school…after only being out of school for a week!

This is exciting…just in case I forget to write that!

Five peers and I are in Fort Smith, Arkansas, training with their next group of teachers who will also be receiving a class set of mini-laptops this fall.

Today we utilized these (among others, of course!) techie tools:

• Etherpad:  Here’s one we worked on today!  I really see the application of this tool within the classroom.
• Protopage:  My first Protopage….not sure how much I will use this one but still fun to play with…may change my mind as I develop this more.
• Penzu:  This may be my favorite!  Maybe because it looks like a real piece of paper?  Definitely will go more “green free” this fall!

Currently, here’s what I see…literally…three of my peers “playing” on their mini’s. 

• Peer One - researching professional development reads.
• Peer Two - creating our theme t-shirt…can you say “cafe”?
• Peer Three - updating her Reader.

Have I used the word nerd yet?  Definitely some of the coolest people you will ever meet!  Definitely teachers that our students will be blessed to have this fall.  Definitely leaders within our district.

Definitely exciting!

My husband and I just finished watching Defiance, a movie about a group of Jews who resisted becoming victims of the Holocaust by living in the forest, by surviving, by fighting, by living.

Very inspiring movie.

Please consider renting this movie.   Thanks to Redbox, you can rent it for only a $1.  For that $1, you will receive an insight, a respect for those who desire to live, to stand for what they belief. 

This week I spent part of three days packing…two in my classroom and one day in my mother’s house.  I cannot say that I enjoyed anything about these days…until they were over.

In my classroom I had hoped to go through every piece of paper and recycle 99% of them.  Sorry!  I AM going green, but  I am also an annotator.  In time.  Just give me time.

Time was not to be my gift, though.  On Friday morning, I learned that my classroom had to be completely packed and ready to be moved out on Monday morning, so into the box every piece of paper went. 

Time is my gift.  Now my classroom will be refurbished to ensure the redesign of our 21st Century classrooms.  Early in the summer.  Time to work in my classroom. 

Time was not to be my gift in my mother’s house.  My siblings and I made the decision to move my mother into a “home” due to her advancing dementia.  My sister placed my mom’s house on the market…a little quicker than I was ready.  Thus, I spent a day…a very tiring day…sifting through years of history to determine which parts I would be honored to preserve.  Treasures, indeed.  The letters my dad wrote my mom before they married…what would have been 61 years ago yesterday (June 5).  My mom’s recipe box.  Her Bible.  Dishes.  Pictures.

Both of these “packing up” days represent my unwillingness to change, to keep some things they way they are.  To honor them, to preserve them.

I like to think, though, that I am on the “cutting edge” of change, of technology.  Surely this is symbolized by the additional two days this week:

• Monday:  Created my teacher web page on our school’s new website.  Cool!  Very student and parent friendly.
• Tomorrow:  I leave with five other ladies to attend a week of training using our new “mini” laptops.  Very cool!

This, then, is what I am.  The package.  Inside is a mix of the old and the new. 

I suspect that is what most of us are and were.  People like George Washington, Abraham Lincoln.  Yes, all the greats.

The package.  Packing up what we were.  You see, I felt such a sense of relief when those days of packing were over.  Maybe a sense of finality, but so much more a sense of peace, of accomplishment.  You know what comes next, right?  The unpacking.

Unpacking what we will become in the 21st Century.  Unpacking my dad’s letters, my mom’s recipes, and their many pictures into a book…what will be a gift to my siblings and other family members.  A preservation of the past for those in the future.

Last year I completed one online book study; this year I have signed up for two!

On the English Companion Ning (have you joined this Ning yet?), Kelly Gallager is leading a discussion of his book Readicide.  The study starts this week.  Membership is growing!  I was member 70+ to join.  Now have 104 members involved in this online study!

Thanks to Jim Burke (click here for his blog and here for the Ning) for creating this opportunity for us this summer.  This is the Ning’s second book study (just finished a study of Maja Wilson’s Rethinking Rubrics on the English Companion NIng).

Within our 21 CLC team, we are reading Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind.  On day two of our summer group meeting, Daniel Pink will meet with us online.  Exciting!   (Prior to this, we will complete and discuss the novel via our 21 CLC wiki.) Thanks to peer and project director Lisa Huff for her energy and initiative in creating this professional growth for us.

I encourage group book studies.  Much like reading the Bible, one reader gets one concept, while another grasps another.  Through sharing, though, we highlight the many nuggets contained within that literary work.

Interested in being a part of such a group?  Please check out the Ning (for many valuable insights and resources)!

Thanks to  T. Seale and Tom Barrett for introducing me to the latest WAVE by Google.  According to the link provided by T. Seale,

Waveis a web-based application that marries multiple forms of communication and collaboration, including chat, mail and wikis, into a unified interface. Everything inside Wave happens in real time: You can even see a comment being made as the person is typing it, character-by-character.

Thanks for links…and the online professional development that was…did I mention?…free!

• T. Seale:  On Twitter, she provided this link:  Google Waves Goodbye to E-Mail, Welcomes Real-Time Communication
• Tom Barrett - On Twitter he provided this link:  Google Wave Developer Preview at Google I/O 2009

Do you Twitter?  I have discovered that Twitter is the quickest “link” to what many in our field are reading…I like it!  In a way, Twitter allows one to pick the minds of those who are being true professionals:  they are sincerely interested in everyone knowing what they know.

Then as you Twitter, you will begin to learn about all the other Twitter applications and uses.  Yes,  another instance of realizing that the more we know…the more there is to learn!